Who would hire Michael Eisner?

by philg

In this interesting New York Times editorial, Nicholas Kristof looks at CEO pay from the perspective of “what would this guy do if we didn’t pay him $200 million per year?”  (the $200 million/year is what Michael Eisner earned during some of his better years at Disney (oftentimes those were bad years for stockholders and employees but that’s another story)).  Kristof points out that



“There is a huge supply of would-be C.E.O.’s and negligible demand from companies for new ones, so their price should be cheap — if boards would use their leverage. When Jack Welch retired, General Electric held a contest among three underlings to succeed him. Each was desperate to get the job. If G.E. had done its usual tough bargaining, it could have signed Jeffrey Immelt on a 15-year contract for a mere $750,000 a year in salary, plus reasonable incentives for long-term success.


“Except for turnaround experts, C.E.O.’s have few transferable skills and are in little demand elsewhere. The average 63-year-old head of a plastics company has almost zero chance of finding a better job elsewhere. One study found that of 77 cases when a major company had to find a new boss, only twice was this because the C.E.O. had left for another corporate job.


“Think about it. If Mr. Eisner, who turns 62 on Sunday, wanted to switch jobs now, what other public company would hire him as its new chief executive? Frankly, Mr. Eisner is so desperate to hold on to his job that Disney should try to charge him for the privilege of remaining in his post.”


Eisner has transferred at least $1 billion from Disney’s shareholders’ pockets into his personal checking account over the years.  So he probably could afford to pay quite a bit to keep his job!

11 thoughts on “Who would hire Michael Eisner?”

  1. I think *any* 62 year old would have trouble finding a job somewhere else. And frankly if your last job was a $200 million/year job at Disney, why would you?

  2. I think *any* 62 year old would have trouble finding a job somewhere else. And frankly if your last job was a $200 million/year job at Disney, why would you?

  3. Hmmm… how about President? There’s a possible job opening in November. He could easily outspend even George W Bush on campaign advertising.

  4. Why not outsource CEOs? GE has an incredible corporate culture, they could afford to train some of their rising stars and then send them to run other companies at a very handsome salary for the CEO but without breaking the bank.

  5. I suppose that it would be too much to imaging that Eisner might spend his time funding charities, libraries and other endowments in a Carnegie-esque (or even Gates like) manner…

  6. I don’t get this guy. If I were at any age and had even 1/100 of what he has in “his personal checking account” the last things I would be thinking of are 1) keeping the job I have and 2) ever working for somebody else again.

    But that’s just me. Who’d want to “work” when you can travel the world and when you get tired of that do some good? But I guess as CEO he doesn’t have any skills that would do others any good…

  7. There’s a good business-centric account Disney principles (Eisner,Katzenburg,Frank Wells) from 1984 to present.Author,Kim Masters,occasionally reports for NPR.He has stacked the Board of Directors so his job is assured. Note:There was one year (1996?) when Eisner’s compensation including stock options was >$500M!

  8. There’s a good business-centric book by Kim Masters,The Keys to the Kingdom,about Eisner and other Disney principles(Frank Wells,Katzenberg,Ovitz).Eisner has stacked the Board of Directors with allies so his job is secure unless Comcast ups their buyout.There was one year,1996,when his compensation including stock options was $500M.

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